Remember when it used to snow in New York City?
It’s been 653 days and counting since Central Park last measured an inch of snow in a single day. That is almost double the previous record of 383 days, which ended in March 1998.
An especially lackluster winter season last year left sleds untested and only produced 2.3 inches of snow in the park in total, the least amount of snow that has ever been recorded there since record-keeping began in 1869.
One snowstorm that began on Feb. 27 did have a two-day total of almost two inches, but because daily records are recorded from midnight to midnight, less than an inch fell each day, keeping the streak alive. In a normal winter, Central Park will see nearly 24 inches of snow through the season.
Luisana Perez, 28, grew up in Harlem and said while walking through the park on Wednesday that she remembered snow piling up as high as parked cars when she was a child. But last Christmas, she said, she was sweating while wearing a holiday sweater as her only layer.
“I’m witnessing the city slowly getting warmer and warmer,” she said. “It doesn’t feel very Christmassy. We’re not in California, where Santa is wearing a swimsuit.”
But not all hope is lost, and this year, it’s likely a matter of when, not if, snow will accumulate in the park. James Tomasini, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, is not expecting the streak to survive the winter.
Storm systems that affect New York City typically have a warmer and a colder side. If the storm tracks up the coast but too far inland — like most of last year’s storms did — New York ends up on the warmer side of the storm and less snow will fall. This can happen more frequently when the overall weather pattern is dictated by La Niña.
This year, however, the winter season is starting with an El Niño pattern, and that could make all the difference when it comes to snow. During El Niño winters, there tends to be an increase in the amount of coastal storms that form off the East Coast. A storm track to the southeast of New York over the ocean is favorable, Mr. Tomasini said, because then the city will be on the colder side of the storm.
That’s good news for Stephanie Ching, 35, and Beth Berns, 60, two regulars in the Central Park dog-walking scene. Their dogs both love the snow.
“It’s one of the things we can’t change in life, though,” Ms. Berns said, and Ms. Ching agreed.
“I’m so sad,” Ms. Ching said of the recent lack of snow. “But as long as the park is still here I think we’ll be OK.”
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